99 word prompt : music and berries

August 10, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) include music and berries. It can be fantastical, such as the music of berries or a story that unfolds about a concert in a berry patch. Go where the prompt leads.

If you want to participate, here’s the link: https://carrotranch.com/2017/08/11/august-10-flash-fiction-challenge-2/

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“What’cha doin’?” six-year-old Jennifer asked.

“Picking blackberries.”

“What’er you listenin’ to?”

“Debussy,” I sighed.

“It’s weird,” she said, picking her nose.

My home was small but freshly painted, had a nice flower garden, and…manners. A child that age should know to ask for tissues!

“Where is your mother?” I demanded.

She pointed at a woman slumped over the filthy couch on her front porch. “She was ‘sleep when I woke up.”

“When did you last eat?”

“Yesterday.”

Good. A reason to contact abuse and get more riff-raff out of our neighborhood. While she devoured lunch, I’d make the call.

24 years in “social services” and most of what I’ve seen isn’t strawberries and cream, It runs the gamut of people thrown away because they’re inconvenient to millionaires wanting to bleed every free penny possible. It is both sad and infuriating.